Kirk here with an article about continuing talks related to Minamata disease.

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Ito responded to a joint request from the groups for a review of the scheme for recognizing Minamata disease patients and for appropriate health surveys. He said he aims to start within two years a health survey on the effects of methylmercury exposure on residents.
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Regular readers of this page may recall that I've been pretty critical of how the Ministry has dragged its feet regarding demands to conduct a proper health survey to determine the extent of the impact on local residents' health. Well, finally, we have a promise to start "within two years". Even that strikes me as another delay but it's better than what we have seen so far.